Charitable viewers,
Merry Christmas
and welcome to
Good People, Good Works!
This week we’ll travel
to South Africa
to learn about
the Kidz2Kidz
Santa Shoebox Project,
a program
that encourages children
to give to other,
less privileged youngsters
in their country.

The Project was created
in 2006
by the South African
non-governmental
organization Kidz2Kidz
which was founded
by Ms. Dee Boehner.
Let us now hear from
Leeza McCloskey,
sister of Ms. Boehner and
a regional coordinator
for the Project.

Please tell us, what is the
Santa Shoebox Project
about?

The Santa Shoebox Project
is about more fortunate
people giving
Christmas presents
to the less fortunate,
especially the children.
That’s why we call it
the Kidz2Kidz
Santa Shoebox Project,
because that’s
what it’s all about.
And it’s about a whole lot
of donors getting together
and making
a personalized Christmas
gift for orphans,
HIV children, abused,
abandoned children
around South Africa.

The vision of
Santa Shoebox Project
is to supply and help and
assist children out there
that are underprivileged,
that don’t have
what many of our
children do have.
And our vision is just
to put a smile
on a child’s face.

The Santa Shoebox Project
works with
350 organizations,
including foster homes,
shelters for children
and preschools
across South Africa.
The Project
is also present in
the neighboring nations
of Botswana and Namibia.

What basically happens
is at the beginning
of the year, we get
a whole lot of facilities
on board that
take care of children
like edu centers,
soup kitchens,
orphanages, places that
take care of HIV children.
We get these facilities
together; we get
the names of each
and every single child
that is in the facility.
And then we put
all the children’s names
onto our website.

At the beginning
of September, we launch
our website where
all our wonderful donors
will select a child’s name
off the website,
so it’s specific to a child.
So it’s the child’s name,
the age and the gender
that our donors all know.
And the donors will then
go out and make these
beautiful presents up
for these kiddies.
And we then have
drop-off days
like we’re having today.
At our drop-off days
we collect all the boxes
for the various facilities,
and we place them
in cartons and then our
logistics company, Laser,
comes and collects them.

And then we distribute it
to each of the facilities
in preparation
for the children’s
Santa Shoebox
celebration day.
And that’s where we
celebrate the festive season
with the children
at the end of the year.

How many children
have benefited from the
Santa Shoebox Project?

When we first started
this Project in 2006
we only did 180 boxes.
We are up to almost
73,000 boxes this year.
So the kids are benefiting
in a huge way
because there’re
so many more children
that are coming on board
the Project, and so many
more children out there
that need just to get
a little bit of love
and a special gift
at Christmastime,
in the festive season
where they’ve never
received gifts before.
And through this Project
we’ve been able to allow
so far 73,000 children
to receive
a Christmas present.

How is a Santa Shoebox
prepared for a child?

What we do is
on our website,
we’re quite specific in
what we want the donors
to prepare in a shoebox
or how they need
to prepare it.
And first of all they need
to get a normal,
average-size shoebox,
although not everyone
does that, they tend
to bring bigger boxes,
but it’s
an average size shoebox.

And in the shoebox
we request a toothbrush,
toothpaste, a facecloth,
soap, an outfit of clothing
which is like a dress
or otherwise it’s shorts
and t-shirt,
and an educational item,
and also a toy
and some sweets.
And it’s all obviously
got to be age appropriate
and we do from birth
to 18 years old.
And also everything
has got to be brand new.

Run by volunteers through
a network of families,
friends and schools,
the hard work of
coordinating donations
and collecting
and distributing
the personalized
Shoebox gifts
all becomes worthwhile
when the Santa Shoebox
celebration day arrives.

Going to
the celebration days,
you’ve actually
got to be there
to see how these
children’s faces light up.
But you get goose bumps
because
they just look at the box
and they open the lid.
They don’t even
take out all the goodies.
They just stare at it and
say, “Wow, is this mine,
all of it, is it mine?
And it’s all new!”
Those are special moments.

We also asked
Leeza McCloskey
to estimate
how many volunteers
help run the Project.

There’s quite a few of us.
In Johannesburg alone,
we have perhaps got about
a thousand volunteers,
and all the volunteers
are full-time workers.
And then if you look at it
nationally in South Africa,
we’ve actually
extended out to Namibia,
you’re probably looking at
about 3,000 volunteers
that are assisting
on this Project.

Now let’s hear from
some of the volunteers
about how
they got involved in the
Santa Shoebox Project!

A couple of months back
my wife sent me an email
and she said, "Listen
I've signed up for this.
Would you like to sign up?"
And I signed up.
And before we knew it
we had picked
two children for whom
we bought presents,
and it’s just been
an absolutely
wonderful experience.
It’s just lovely going out
and buying the stuff,
but even more so now
helping today.
It's really impactful.

I was sent an email by
a colleague two years ago
trying to get people
to join in on the drive,
and I decided
that it’s a great idea.
Things
that we take for granted
every single day of our lives,
like a toothbrush
and toothpaste, soap
and a facecloth,
these kids get once a year.
So I just thought
it was a great initiative
to give them something
that will bring light
to their lives and also
is much needed.

It’s just
such a worthy cause;
I mean, you think about
kids at Christmastime
and I remember,
Christmastime waking up
and looking forward to
all the presents.
And it would be really bleak
if I woke up
and there wasn’t
a single present for me.
So just think about
these kids who have nobody
looking out for them.
So it’s quite cool.

To me Christmas is
all about giving
and enriching
everybody’s lives.

Christmas is about light.
It’s the festival of lights
for me.
And it is about
bringing light and love.
And it’s about humanity
and sharing
and collaboration.

It's the fact that
at some point in our life
we’ve just got to stop and
say, “You know what,
we’re very blessed,
and we need to give back
to other people.”

These very thoughtful gifts
truly have great meaning
to the children
who receive them.

I always tell this story
because I remember
going to a celebration day
and this little boy
had this shoebox
in front of him.
And he had all these
wonderful goodies inside
like sweets and toys, but
he took out a facecloth,
and he sat there
and he wiped his face
and he said,
“Oh, this is so nice,”
which to me
was just so special.
It’s one story
I’ll always relate because
it’s a facecloth and kids
that are more fortunate
don’t understand
what it’s like
to get a facecloth.

In a December 1996
gathering of our
Association members
in California, USA,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
discussed Christmas
and the spirit
of giving to others.

Or if somebody is really
in need of something,
and you know he needs it,
and you can afford it, then
help him anonymously.
You know?
Something like that.
That's why people buy
gifts for Christmas,
to celebrate the love that
Christ has imparted to us,
to celebrate
the unconditional way
he sacrificed for mankind.
Yeah? So we can do that
in any occasion
to remind us of
the loving-kindness
within ourselves.

Leeza McCloskey and
all the other volunteers of
the Santa Shoebox Project,
we truly appreciate
what you are doing
to brighten the lives
of so many kids!
May the Project continue
to put smiles on the faces
of many more vulnerable
children in South Africa
and beyond.

Hi, my name is
Leeza McCloskey
and I am from the
JohannesburgKidz2Kids
Santa Shoebox Project.
And I would like to wish
all the viewers a very,
very Merry Christmas.

For more information
on Kidz2Kidz and the
Santa Shoebox Project,
please visit
the following websites:
Kidz2Kids
www.Kidz2Kidz.co.za
Santa Shoebox Project
www.SantaShoebox.co.za

Happy viewers,
we were delighted to have
your company today for
Good People, Good Works.
May all have
a very Merry Christmas
as we celebrate the
kindness and giving spirit
of Jesus Christ.